Downingtown East’s Smuda paves way for Garnet Valley exit
CONCORD — Bella Smuda doesn’t take her height for granted.
Smuda is usually the tallest player on the floor and she enjoys the challenge of facing a center or power forward with similar height.
The 6-5 senior center from Downingtown East was matched up against Garnet Valley senior Liesl Dentinger Friday night in a win-or-go-home game for both clubs.
Smuda was excellent. She and junior guard Mary McFillin spearheaded a come-from-behind, 48-41 victory for the ninth-seeded Cougars in a District 1 Class 6A playback for 11th place.
Downingtown East earned the final berth in the PIAA tournament out of the district, while No. 7 Garnet Valley saw its season come to an end.
“I think no one was ready to be done, no one was ready to have our season be over,” Smuda said. “I think we’ve worked too hard for that and I’m just so glad that we’re going to states and we have another chance to win some games.”
In a word, Smuda was dominant. In the fourth quarter alone, the Liberty recruit registered nine points, four rebounds and three blocked shots and went 5-for-6 at the foul line. She ended with game highs in points (23) and blocks (nine) and was a cool 9-for-10 at the charity stripe.
“I personally love playing against other bigs,” Smuda said. “(Dentinger), like myself, is a really good big and a really good player. I like playing against bigs because it’s more of a competition, basically to see who is the better big. She was a very good challenge for me. I enjoy it a lot, just battling down low with other bigs.”
Smuda blocked three of Dentinger’s shots in the final quarter. GV fed the ball to Dentinger after falling behind, but Smuda rose to the occasion on defense.
“I just know what I have to do as a big,” she said, “and I know I have to help my team win, especially tonight.”
Downingtown East’s other star was McFillin, who swished four 3-pointers, including the game-tying trey with five minutes to play as the Cougars were in the middle of an 18-4 run. Cassie Denning and Caroline Brennan came away with back-to-back steals that led to baskets, completing a furious 7-0 spurt in the span of 10 seconds.
Downingtown East tallied only 11 points combined in the second and third quarters. Garnet Valley went ahead by nine points with less than a minute to play in the third. Smuda’s two free throws at the end of the quarter ignited a 13-0 run by the Cougars.
“I think the fourth quarter, as I said before, we didn’t want to lose and have our season be over,” Smuda said. “That final push we made was, like, ‘OK, let’s go and get that final states berth.’ We wanted to go and get it and I wanted to play at least another week with these girls.
“It feels great. We’ve worked so hard for it.”
The Jaguars outscored the Cougars, 24-11, in the middle two quarters. Sophomore guard Ava Possenti erupted for nine of her team-high 17 points in the second stanza. Dentinger netted six of her 12 points in the third, and senior guard Abbey Anderson drilled a 3-pointer in the quarter to make it an eight-point Jags lead.
But then the wheels fell off.
“We panicked a little bit,” said Possenti, who was 7-for-13 from the field and added three steals. “But we gave it our all tonight, especially for our seniors. I’m sad that it’s over.”
In the fourth quarter, the Jaguars were limited to six points on 2-for-18 shooting. GV committed 11 turnovers in the second half.
Anderson had eight points and Jess Brewer came off the bench to grab eight rebounds for the Jags, who failed to qualify for states for the first time since 2012. Garnet Valley won the District 1 title and advanced to the PIAA final last season.
McFillin finished with 15 points, five assists and three steals for the Cougars.
“Garnet Valley is a great team and this is not where we expected to see them, with both of us fighting for that last spot,” Downingtown East coach Tom Schurtz said. “It was a difficult match-up, with two quality teams, and sadly one of us was not going to come out and get to the state tournament. I was really happy with the effort of our girls.”
